Stylist died of drugs overdose

Isabella Blow, the stylist regarded as one of the most original and eccentric figures on the international fashion scene, died of a drugs overdose, an inquest at Gloucester coroner's court heard yesterday.

Blow, known for her love of flamboyant hats, died at Gloucestershire Royal hospital on Monday. The inquest was opened and adjourned yesterday, with the coroner's officer saying she died from "the effects of a drug overdose".

The 48-year-old was the fashion director at Tatler and was credited with launching the careers of the hat designer Philip Treacy as well as those of Alexander McQueen and Sophie Dahl. Known also as Izzie, Blow was rarely seen in public without a hat by Treacy, whose work she championed from the time he brought an acid green felt with jagged crocodile teeth edges into the Tatler office.

Blow, who lived at Hilles House, near Stroud, Gloucestershire, had been depressed and had discovered she had cancer. The editor of Tatler, Geordie Greig, paid tribute to his friend, whom he had known for 25 years. "She was this extraordinarily unique person who combined extravagance with great taste," he said. "She only dealt with surprise. It is a huge loss for British fashion and for Britain as a whole ... Few people are ever a real diamond. Izzie Blow was."

Treacy said: "It was easy to think of her as some unusual-looking person in a hat, but there was much more to her than that. She was the most interesting person I ever met. She was highly intelligent, highly cultured, she loved talent, especially in young people ... nobody beat Isabella."

She was born Isabella Delves-Broughton in London, and lived in Cheshire until the age of 21, going to New York in 1979 to study ancient Chinese art at Columbia University. In 1981, a big break came when Bryan and Lucy Ferry introduced her to Anna Wintour, then fashion director of US Vogue. In 1988 she married Detmar Blow.